Santee citizens weigh in on Mast Park

Update calls for maintaining rustic feel, adding amenities

After three community workshops and presentations given to several civic groups in the city, Mast Park, which winds along the San Diego River between Carlton Hills Boulevard and Cuyamaca Street, will get the redevelopment, renovation and renewal that many say it needs.

The city also solicited input from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the Senior Club in Santee and the Santee Collaborative as it attempts to make Mast Park more enjoyable and safer for families.

Schmidt Design Group has been working with city staff members since May to update the city’s original 1985 master plan for the park. The estimated cost to fix up the park is just more than $6 million dollars, half of that likely to come via developer impact fees as estimated over the next five years, Santee Finance Director Tim McDermott said.

Community Services Director Bill Maertz said other money for the park will come in part from a variety of sources. Those sources including grants such as the California River Parkways Program, the state Land and Water Conservation Fund and the state’s recreation trails grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Redevelopment funds are also a possibility, if redevelopment agencies are not wiped out in state budget battles.

Mast Park covers nearly 101.5 acres, with 43 acres in Mast Park West and 58.5 acres to the east along the river, but updated plans include a focus on the 30 acres of developed park land north of the river and east of Carlton Hills.

Residents and park users asked the city to keep Mast Park a passive, natural park; put in an off-leash area for dogs; enhance its playground; incorporate an exercise track and add fitness equipment; get more security measures in place; create more room for gathering space; upgrade the nature trails that exist in the park to make them ADA accessible with bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly connections; make it easier for pedestrians and vehicles to access the park; and update the restrooms.

All are being considered, most will be implemented, including a planned children’s play area totaling 34,000 square feet, significantly larger than the current 7,800-square-foot area. The area will include a climbing rock and rope, a sand play area and dry creek beds. The dog park will have upgraded materials as ground cover.

Plans also include the addition of about 50 parking spaces, an enhanced connection to the San Diego River trail system, interpretive material that focus on education about the environment; and a redesigned 1-mile paved loop path that will be lighted at night.

The large sycamore trees are to be protected and drainage channels will be incorporated along with a vegetated basin in the low area near the dog park area to capture runoff.

The plan was financed by redevelopment tax increment funds and a $75,000 Healthy Community Planning grant from the San Diego Association of Governments.

Mast Park opened as a county park in 1970 and was dedicated as a city park in 1982.